KARAK, Mar 08 (APP):Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi here Thursday arrived Karak district and inaugurated Neshpa Oil & Gas and LPG project.
Upon arrival, prime minister was received by Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Engr Iqbal Zafar Jhagara and other senior leaders of PML-N.
On this occasion, the prime minister was briefed about salient features of the project.
PM inaugurates Neshpa oil & gas, LPG project
Peshawar shock AJK in MoIB&NH World Women Day Tri-Cricket Series opener
PESHAWAR, Mar 08 (APP):Peshawar shocked Azad Jammu and Kashmir by 76 runs in the opening match of the Tri-Matches Cricket Series organized in connection with World Women Day in collaboration with Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and National History and Literary Heritage (MoIB&NH) and Malik
Saad Sports Trust here at Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
The three matches cricket series is also part of the two-day
“Haq Haqdar Tak” Sports Gala being sponsored by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and National Heritage (MoIB&NH) that included other games like Squash, Table Tennis, Badminton.
Project In-charge Khurram Shehzad and Zeeshan Raiz along with Secretary General Malik Saad Sports Trust graced the occasion as chief guest. Badminton and Table Tennis are being organized in Qayyum Sports Complex, Squash at PAF and Cricket at Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium.
Peshawar skipper Aysha won the toss and elected to bat first by setting up 129 runs target. Middle order all arounder Kiran struck
elegant knock of 48 runs including three tower sixes and as many boundaries.
Roheeda (16), and Kalsoom not out 11 were the other high runs contributors, none of the other batter could cross the double figures. Right-arm medium fast bowler Maryum claimed three wickets, Kiran got two wickets and Nazish got one wicket.
In reply, AJK team bundled out for only 52 runs with Perveen, Maryum added 10 runs each, none of the other batter could cross the double figures. Karin claimed three wickets, Maria, Hira and Sana got two wickets each. Thus Peshawar won the match by 76 runs.
In the table tennis, international players Iqra Rehman and Zur Afshan reached to the final after defeating Hina and Iqra Junior in the semi-finals while in Men’s singles Danial and Ammad Khalil reached the final after securing victories against Aziz and Asfandiyar.
In his speech, Khurram Shehzad said that Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and National Heritage and Literary History, had
initiated the introduction of crediable charities institutions to supplement its campaign Haq Haddaar Tak with the aim to encourage the public to give their donations and charities to trust worthy organization with a stellar record in welfare and development activities including support for the victims and survivors of incidents of violent extremism.
He said the aim and objective are to give due awareness to the people of Pakistan so that they could give their contribution in terms of monetary and moral support to the true, functional and those welfare bodies, truly believe in rendering services for the welfare of needy people.
He paid tribute to the welfare organization who always there for rendering their valuable services for the just cause of helping the
humanity. He said Pakistan Peace Collective (PPC) with the support of MoIB&NH has prepared a report through which pointed out that there are many fake organizations working in the name of people welfare who collected millions of rupees from the general public in return did not provide relief to destitute.
Therefore, he said, it is need of the hour to provide a guideline for all people who are generously supporting such an organization so that the contributions should be reached to the genuine and needy people.
He said an awareness campaign has been launched in the name of “Haq Haqdar Tak” so that all the donations and contributions of the people could be given to deserving people.
He said such awareness campaigns and event like in Peshawar would also be organized in other cities all across the country.
It is worth mentioning here that a women cricket team of Azad Jammu and Kashmir led by prominent cricket organizer and broadcaster Alia Saeed to play three friendly matches to give due opportunities to the players of both AJK and KP teams to strengthen the friendship ties. She said it is good to visit historical City Peshawar.
She said the teams will play three matches. It is not a matter of win or lost rather playing in Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium against KP team is a pride for all of us. She also invited Peshawar team to visit AJK.
She said the female players of AJK are equally enthusiastic about to play cricket. At the end the chief guest gave away trophies and certificates to the winners and runners-up.
Govt committed to development and progress of Balochistan: PM
ISLAMABAD, Mar 8 (APP):Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Thursday said the federal government was committed to the development of Balochistan and accords due priority to it in allocation of funds to ensure its people get all basic facilities of life.
He was talking to students of Cadet College Mastung, Balochistan who visited Prime Minister Office and met with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
The Prime Minister said Balochistan was a resource-rich province having abundant oil, gas, minerals and metals besides a deep sea port. He expressed the hope that the province would soon turn out to be the most developed area of the country.
The Prime Minister said after the 18th Amendment, most of the public service functions have been devolved to provinces, however, the Federal Government has always given due importance to the province and allocated huge resources for its progress and development. He said the province would soon have a network of roads for better health and education services.
The Prime Minister advised the students to focus on their studies and work hard to reach a position where they could serve Pakistan and particularly Balochistan.
He also expressed satisfaction that many students from Cadet College Mastung had joined the armed forces to serve and defend Pakistan.
SAPM Ali Jehangir Siddiqui and MNA Shaza Fatima Khawaja briefed the students regarding working of the executive branch of the government and took them on a round of the Prime Minister Office.
Speakers appreciate govt. efforts to establish NSW for trade
ISLAMABAD, Mar 8 (APP):Speakers at a conference here on Thursday appreciated the joint initiative of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to establish a National Single Window (NSW) for trade.
They said the initiative would help process all import, export and transit-related regulatory requirements efficiently under one umbrella, getting rid of typical time-consuming manual file work and switching over to flawless online/paperless mechanism.
They were speaking at concluding sessions of the two-day moot, which was organized by USAID and FBR, and attended by more than 100 government officials from key trade regulators to better understand the challenges involved in institutionalizing the initiative, ‘National Single Window For Trade.’
Under the NCW, Pakistan’s around 42 departments that are regulating imports and exports through the Customs would use ‘single sourced databank’ from where all required information would be shared with each other. It will also help payment of customs duty, port charges and federal excise duty, ensuring goods clearance within minutes.
Chairman Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (FPCCI) Standing Committee on FBR Syed Asad Mashhadi said the NSW was a great idea and it needed implementation in letter and spirit to give a boost to national economy in the coming days.
He said the practice of under invoicing was one of the major issues and urged the business community to ensure fair-play as it would help grow their companies as well as strengthen national economy, leading to increased business activities in the country. “Businessmen must ensure submitting actual invoices of their goods,” he said.
He also suggested the government to increase the limit of transfer amount from $10,000 to a reasonable level in consultation with all stakeholders to facilitate entrepreneurs in promoting international trade.
Secretary General P@SHA (Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT and ITES) Shahryar Haideri highlighted importance of Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) and its fast-increasing role of facilitation in routine life at different levels.
Currently, he said, Pakistan had around $ 3 billion per annum market, which made 100 percent progress in last three years, while it was likely to be doubled in next few years. He said at present around 4,000 IT companies were operating in the country, where almost 150,000 experts were performing different duties to extend hi-tech services to consumers.
He claimed that IT was the second largest industry that was growing 20 to 30 percent every year, expressing the confidence that it would become the largest industry in near future, leaving behind the textile sector.
He also highlighted importance of use of information technology in different ministries, saying that it was increasing collaboration among public sector departments and improving their efficiencies.
He said the NSW initiative would play a great role in improving effeciency of the government departments in clearance of goods and tax collection.
State has right to declare armed Jehad in an Islamic country: Interior Minister
PESHAWAR, Mar 08 (APP):Federal Minister for Interior Ahsan Iqbal said Thursday that only state has the right to declare Jehad in an Islamic republic against evil forces and no citizen has the right to call for the killing of citizens.
The minister said individuals self rulings for Jehad will create anarchy and destabilize peace in the country.
Addressing a function here at Frontier Constabulary headquarters after inaugurating FC Flats and media talks, the Interior Minister declared that no enemy could defeat us until we have brilliant and brave jawans in the Army and FC.
He said some terrorists’ outfits had made the country hostage few years back and the country was being considered most dangerous for living while today it was an emerging economic nation and peaceful country.
The government, Army and police were united in war against
terrorism as result of which the terrorists were on the run. “We will not rest until elimination of the last terrorist. We will make the country a peaceful abode for our children.”
The Minister was presented salute upon arrival to the FC headquarter by the contingents of the FC troops. He also laid floral wreath at Yadgar Shuhada on this occasion.
In a media talks, he said PTI Chief Imran Khan was known for making tall claims and advises whereas he did not fallow the same in practical life.
“We put the country on road to progress under the leadership of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif but certain hidden forces were against it.”
Many important projects have brought to the country under CPEC by PML-N government which will ensure massive investment in the country besides making Pakistan an economic giant.
“We desire peace in Afghanistan as peaceful Afghanistan was in
the interest of Pakistan,” he said, adding India did not want peace in Pakistan and Afghanistan and arrest of Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav was a prove of it.
He said unrest and chaos had been prevailing in the country before PML-N government came into power and today peace and law and order situation has been restored and foreign investment are coming to the country as evident from CPEC.
“We had successfully eliminated terrorism from the country with the cooperation of nation and security forces in our five years tenure and established government writ in all restive areas including KP, FATA and Karachi.”
To a question he said, we want to make Pakistan a economic giant
and are determined to make the institutions more strong and vibrant.
“We will construct new hospitals for FC and Frontier Corps and decided to provide best weaponry for civil armed forces.”
“It is for the political parties to ponder over the matters of horse trading in Senate election,” he said, adding massive horse trading was reportedly done in PTI ranks in the recent held senate election as admitted by the PTI leadership.
PML-N is ready to cooperate with every one for elimination of horse trading in Senate elections in future.
Our opponents have made a front against us but will continue to pass on the journey of progress and development and will work for strengthening of democracy, he concluded.
Country’s progress lies in welfare of masses: President
ISLAMABAD, Mar 8 (APP):President Mamnoon Hussain on Thursday said the progress and development of a country lies in the welfare of its people and this continuous process inevitably requires participation of each and every individual.
Addressing at a the launch of National Socio-economic Registry (NSER) of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), the President said the prgramme would help BISP and other relevant organizations of the government to reach the destitute and marginalized segments of the society more easily and transparently.
President Mamnoon Hussain said the growing workforce of Pakistan, which was the sixth largest country in terms of population with sixty percent of youth, was a big asset.
He said different avenues of development and progress were open for a country with such a youth bulge, however regretted that Pakistan stood second to certain countries in the African continent in terms of educational backwardness.
President Mamnoon said education with specific focus on professional training for youth should be given top priority and needed an immediate and effective attention.
He said NSER by BISP was a step in this direction for collection of accurate data on poverty and lauded the BISP administration was constantly striving under its dynamic leadership to meet the challenges and improve the effectiveness of this programme.
He said the data would help to alleviate poverty by facilitating the establishment of an endowment fund, attracting the attention of corporate sector and promoting e-commerce.
The President said the step would not only help public sector organizations to carry the development process forward, but would also facilitate civil society, national and international development partners to improve their performance.
He said the women beneficiaries who graduated this programme could play a vital role in this respect and commended the establishment of the committees comprising these women.
He said it would lead the people living below poverty line towards self-reliance and play their due role in national development process.
The President expressed hope that this would result in rapid empowerment and greater employment of women which was an effective and quick way to alleviate poverty.
Chairperson Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Marvi Memon highlighted the salient features of the programme.
PML-N has right to field candidate for Chairman Senate: Nawaz Sharif
ISLAMABAD, Mar 8 (APP):Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday said Pakistan Muslim (N) was a majority party in Senate and it had right to field its candidate for Chairman.
He, however, said in case PPP fields Mian Raza Rabbani as candidate for the slot of Chairman Senate, the PML(N) would support him who meets overall criteria.
Talking to media after appearing before Accountability Court here, Nawaz Sharif said
“If PPP’s leadership does not want to field Raza Rubbani as candidate for Senate Chairman then we will find someone from our own fold.”For this purpose, former Prime Minister said, he was in consultation with Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Hasil Bizenjo and Maulana Fazl-Ur-Rehman for leadership of the Upper House.
Answering a question, he said there would be chances of horse trading for election of Chairman and Deputy Chairman Senate.
“We want a strong person for slot of Chairman who should be sincere to country as well as to democratic system,” he said.
Nawaz said PML-N and its allies are engaged in consultation over Senate Chairman’s post and all are agreed over the name of Raza Rabbani who is incumbent Chairman.
He assured full support to Raza Rabbani, saying “It is also my personal wish to see him as Senate’s Chairman.
Regarding on-going cases against him, he said these are part of a ‘grand design’, as it has been six months since corruption references were filed but charges have yet to be proved.
Nawaz Sharif claimed he was disqualified on flimsy grounds, saying that there was no proof of any wrongdoing.
Civil, military leadership put country on road to progress: Interior minister
PESHAWAR, Mar 08 (APP): Federal Minister for Interior, Ahsan Iqbal said here Thursday the country has been put on road to economic progress and development after significant improvement in the law and order situation owing to the government’s effective polices and sacrifices of law enforcement agencies and the role of Frontier Corps in establishment of the Government’s writ in restive areas was highly commendable.
Addressing the passing out parade of 25th batch of Frontier Corps KP recruits at FC Training Academy at Warsak, the Interior Minister said the civil and military leadership have taken unanimous and bold decisions that proved very fruitful in establishing peace in the country to a great extent and as such Pakistan was progressing with each passing day and the confidence of foreign investors were restored after CPEC.
Pakistan, he said, to join the club of 25 most economic developed
nations by year 2025 in the wake of CPEC opportunities gifted by PMLN Government for people of Pakistan. He said political stability was imperative for economic progress an development.
Inspector General Frontier Corps North, Major General Muhammad Wasim Ashraf was present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, the Interior Minister said the operations being conducted under ‘Radd-ul- Fassad’ against terrorists and their
facilitators would prove a last nail in their coffin.
The Minister said Operation Zarb e Azb had broken back of terrorists and established the writ of government in FATA.
Operations Radul Fasad and Zarb e Azab and National Action Plan (NAP) have played key role in elimination of terrorism and establishment of durable peace in the country, he said, adding Operation Radd ul Fasaad will continue till elimination of last terrorist in the country.
He said the government would ensure security of lives and
properties of people and no compromise would be made on this issue.
“The capacity of FC has been significantly enhanced under the National Action Plan that included establishment of new wings in the paramilitary force and provision of basic training and modern equipments and weaponry.”
Minister said the present govt has equipped FC with latest technologies and weaponry through a comprehensive reforms
package and make it enable to meet the present day challenges and various programs were initiated in this regard.
“I am hopeful that the govt’s steps would certainly enhance the professional competence of FC and the force along with others law enforcement agencies would continue to play active role in elimination of terrorism and for establishment peace in the country.”
“You are lucky to become part of a brave force that was engaged in defending the ideological and territorial borders of the country,
which is a great honour for all of you” he told the passing out recruits.
Minister paid tributes to IGFC for his role in improving professional capabilities of the paramilitary force and the sacrifices offered by FC troops and other security personnel for defence of the country.
“Those FC troops who sacrificed their lives for defense of the country and protection of people lives are the real heroes of the country,” he said.
“The nation has high expectations from the pass out recruits who will follow the rich traditions set by the predecessors and will give every
sacrifices for defense and security of the motherland.”
Earlier, the Minister was presented Guard of Honour. The smartly
contingents made an impressive march past received warm applause from participants. A total of 608 recruits belonging to different areas were passed out on this occasion. The participants also appreciated the impressive PT and drill show of the recruits and applauded them.
Contributions of women were making Pakistan strong, prosperous: PM
ISLAMABAD, Mar 8 (APP):Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Thursday said Pakistan has come a long way in women empowerment in all spheres, and hoped their contributions would continue to make the country strong and prosperous in the days ahead.
Speaking here at an interactive session with women from different walks of life to mark the international women’s day, here at the PM Office, the Prime Minister said the women were making remarkable progress in health, education, sciences, politics and defence of the country.
The Prime Minister said the government was committed to facilitate the entry of women into every field and ensure they get equal opportunities, facilities and emoluments.
He said the Pakistani women have not only been recognized at national level, but also at international level and the country has top notch front line combat pilots, educationists, health and IT experts. He said Pakistan also boasts having the first Muslim woman head of government.
Prime Minister Abbasi said the women in Pakistan have come a long way and achieved a lot, however in a lighter vein added that it was now time for the men to worry. He said gone were the days when the country used to have a quota for women, now, he said, he believed it was time that the men need to get a quota. He said in every educational institution he went of the top ten students, seven were women.
He said the women have done their bit, now it was for the men to meet the challenge. He said the women were excelling in all areas, however acknowledge that they still have a long way to go. He said the employers he has met, recognize that the women workers were more productive and hard working. Abbasi however said the women in business still have a wide spectrum to cover and said there were barriers that need to be done away with.
He said a number of women were part of the cabinet and were holding key posts. He mentioned the 60 reserved seats for women in the parliament, and said he would have preferred that they too come through direct election. In this regard he said there was a need to create more opportunities for the women to come to mainstream politics.
The Prime Minister said the day was an opportunity to renew the commitment for individual and collective efforts in a way so as to protect social, economic, social and political rights of the women. He said the government has taken several legal and administrative measures in the past few years to protect women rights.
Abbasi asked the gathering to pledge to protect individual and collective rights, financially, politically and socially, for the women and said in this regard everyone has to play an active role.
The Prime Minister later went around different tables and discussed with the groups, issues related to national economy, politics, health, education and their impact on the women.
Satrang Art Gallery organizes ‘As I see it’ exhibition
ISLAMABAD, Mar 8 (APP): Satrang Art Gallery has organized exhibition ‘As I see it’ in connection with International women day here on March 8.
An exhibition featuring the work of four young female artists Amra Khan, Azanat Mansoor, Naira Mushtaq and Sahyr Sayed.
This exhibition is an amalgamation of their thoughts and expressions, as they move through their lives, as daughters, as artists, two of them as wives and mothers, and all of them as independent working women.
Their work depict the issues they face and respond to are universal, yet their perspectives, opinions and views of the world are informed by their individual stories, their unique anecdotes, and standpoints.
Satrang Gallery is a strong supporter of female empowerment.